Erase Part 1: A Ben 10 Alien Force Fanfiction (8)
by ShockScythe
Summary: When silence is interrupted by the Omnitrix's detection of Addex, Ben, Gwen, Kevin, and Zeke go off to investigate. And what do they find? A craft of bone and horror. Suddenly thrown into a rescue mission to save Zeke, the trio have to avoid the dangers around the corner and get their friend back. But Addex's plan is more horrifying than they expected; Will they be too late?
1. Chapter 1

**Not dead. Totally not dead.**

 **As much as I love writing these, it's sometimes hard to come up with ideas that can be properly written out. It's a regular occurrence, unfortunately.  
Now this one might be quite a shocker, so please sit tight and hold onto your socks because god I'm not even ready for this.**

 **I only own my character and the plot of this fanfiction. Everything else belongs to their original owners.**

 **Enjoy.**

 **-** ** _ShockScythe_**

* * *

 _Slurp.  
Slurp.  
Sluuuuuuuuuuurp._

A choking sound left my mouth when Kevin whacked the back of my head, the straw of my precious smoothie jabbing me in the back of the throat. Sputtering, I whipped to face him. "What the hell, Kevin!?"  
"No one wants to hear you suck on your smoothie, Tennyson!" he snarled back.  
Laughing, Zeke put a hand to her ear, "I don't know," she commented, "It sounds like music to my ears~"  
"Don't encourage him!"  
Wiping my mouth with the back of my hand, I leaned against the Camaro, _trying_ to enjoy my smoothie without choking on it.  
The day was oddly calm, and though the silence worried me, I couldn't help but enjoy it; the breeze was nice, the sunlight was soft, and everything just seemed so...nice.  
And, frankly, that's what should've concerned me most.  
"Anything?" Gwen asked as she approached us, taking her smoothie back from Kevin.  
Chewing on my straw, I raised an eyebrow. "Anything what?"  
"Anything plumber-related," Kevin clarified with a light sigh, "And, to answer your question; nothing."  
Zeke rubbed the back of her neck, frowning slightly. "I don't like it... It's like...the calm before the storm."  
The other two nodded in silent agreement but I didn't respond, instead looking down at the lid of my drink. We should've been enjoying the break, but silence always meant that something bigger was coming. The DNAliens had been oddly docile, somehow staying under the radar, the Forever Knights weren't very active from what we knew, Addex had yet to show his face around here after the incident with the Omnitrix, and every other strange villain was out of sight, out of mind; either stuck behind bars or in hiding.  
I knew none of us were necessarily looking for trouble, but it was better than waiting for something to crush us the second we blink.

Then again. . .

"Threat detected," the Omnitrix chirped, its green hourglass flashing in warning, "Caution."  
All heads looked up from their distractions, eyes widening as they looked at the watch. A bit awkwardly, Zeke scratched at her cheek. "Uh, me and my big mouth..?"  
"Not exactly," Kevin argued, giving her a quick pat on the back as he went to throw away his cup, "I was getting bored anyways."  
Tapping the face of the dial, I frowned, shuffling towards the car door, "So it's Addex, but he's not here..."  
"What makes you say that, Tennyson?"  
"It's not freaking out; whenever that freak is super close, it starts malfunctioning and stuff."  
Zeke slid into the backseat first, looking over at me as I followed. "But wasn't that because of the virus?" she asked, "You know, the one that Azmuth fixed?"  
"Probably, but something feels...different," I responded as I buckled up, returning my attention to the watch again, "If he actually was closer, I think it would be more freaked out."  
The car roared to life, its mighty driver looking back at me through the rearview mirror. "Can't you just ask the thing to locate him?" Kevin asked me.  
"Are we actually going to go _looking_ for a fight?" Gwen questioned with a frown, "Isn't that a little stupid?"  
"Reckless," the ninja beside me clarified, "Extremely reckless. But don't you think its strange that he himself isn't coming after us?"  
Kevin raised a hand. "That's true; he's usually trying to eliminate the Ninja or us."  
"Or the entire town. Maybe the human race."  
"Same thing."  
I cleared my throat awkwardly, giving the Omnitrix another tap. "Locate detected threat," I ordered."  
"Locating," it responded, the hourglass now just glowing instead of flashing.  
In mere moments, a green, holographic map appeared over the dial, showing a flashing dot off in the emptiness that was the desert. Four pairs of eyes focused on the map, half of which were analyzing the reason for its being so out of the way (Kevin and I thought it was strange, but we weren't exactly the type to think too far into things). Kevin started driving when Gwen removed her gaze, leaning back in her seat. "It's far out there," she elaborated, "perfect for something of a larger scale."  
"Like a giant contraption," Zeke added, "If you didn't want to be seen so easily, you'd go out into the desert. If you wanted to make something without being bothered, you'd go out to the desert."  
As we drove down the main road, I noticed Kevin's eyes in the mirror again. "So, if this definitely Addex," he asked, gaze flickering to the road again, "then what the heck would he be making? Or what would he be doing?"  
She shrugged, looking out the window with a faint scowl. Her hand moved to rest on her scarf for a second, fingers tapping against the material. "I don't know," she responded slowly, "but I have a really bad feeling..."  
"Oh, well that's _definitely_ comforting to hear."  
Tucking a lock of red hair behind her ear, Gwen glanced at Kevin, then the two of us in the back before speaking; "We'll take a look," she said, "and from there, we'll decide if we need to do something about it right off the bat or not."  
The rest of us nodded in agreement and the buildings disappeared as we entered open road. As we continued driving, the dot on the map drew closer and closer, but there was nothing out of the ordinary.  
Suddenly, Zeke reached forward and grabbed the chair in front of her. "Kevin, stop the car," she ordered, gaze locked outside.  
With a raised eyebrow and a frown, Kevin did as he was told, and pulled off of the road before coming to a stop. Everyone climbed out of the car, looking at Zeke in confusion as she continued to focus on something we couldn't see. As she wandered a bit further away from the car, Kevin and Gwen leaned over to me. "How close are we?" Gwen asked.  
Glancing at the map, I responded; "Well, we're here... Apparently."  
The holograph vanished and the dial flashed a few times. "Threat detected," the Omnitrix warned, "Use extreme caution."  
Kevin scratched at his head then looked over at the blonde who was still in her own trance. "Then... Is he below us?"  
"No," Zeke responded suddenly, looking back at us for a moment, "He's just beyond that rock formation.."  
"How can you tell?" I asked, proceeding to follow her with Kevin and Gwen at my heels.  
Continuing on, the ninja gave a small shrug. "Can't you feel it?" she asked.  
"Feel what?"  
"I can't explain it, but something feels...wrong."  
The rock formation in question served as the edge of a deep ditch - a ditch that had never been there before now. Climbing to the top, we stealthily peeked over the jagged points;  
An off-white, gigantic, rough structure - in the shape of a space ship from the movies, or from distant outer space - was nose-first in the blackened earth. There was an opening in the front, led up to by a slick pathway that was connected to a large ring around the vessel. It was definitely alien.  
Extending a hand forward slightly, Kevin made a face. "What is that thing even made of?" he demanded, "Wood? It looks like it should shatter in space."  
"It's not wood..." Gwen breathed, her green eyes wide in horror, "It's alive..."  
"Alive?!" I gaped, staring at the structure with wide eyes of my own, "What _is_ it?!"  
"Bone," Zeke responded, scowling as she watched it, "It's bone..."


	2. Chapter 2

Sinking down from our viewing point, Kevin leaned against the rocks. "That's not right," he muttered, "Geez, why the hell is it even here?"

Shrugging, I ran a hand through my hair, trying to imagine Addex's reasoning for placing this...thing here.

"It's a ship," Zeke commented randomly, continuing to stare at it even as the rest of us stopped. "It's his ship..."

"And how do you know this?" Kevin asked her, "Did you get a pamphlet that we didn't?"

Instead of verbally responding, she pointed at her scarf before returning her attention to the bone craft.  
We were only going to take a look and then decide what to do from there, but we were now more confused than when we arrived; if this was really a ship, why did it land the way it did? Was there a reason for it? As someone who does not own a spaceship, I couldn't say. But why bring it here? Why go so far?

"Think he's after the Ninja?" I asked then, looking over at Zeke.  
Before she could even respond, Kevin was nodding his head, a hand on his chin. "That seems like something he'd do, right?" Glancing at the rest of us, he shrugged. "I mean, it's either us or her. Sometimes the rest of Bellwood."

"Yeah, but what good does it do to bring something so large here?" she asked, tapping the rocks with her nails. "I want to take a look, but that's probably a bad idea."

"As bad of an idea as any," he countered with.

Gwen shook her head, "No, she's right; I've got a really bad feeling."

With a grunt, I climbed back up the rock, this time standing on the edge with my hands on my hips. "But we don't know anything about what's going on," I proceeded to argue, "I say we get a closer look."

"Ben-"

"It's probably not very smart," I interrupted my cousin, "but what if this is something a lot bigger that involves all of the citizens instead of just us? What if it was something that we could've stopped right now?"

"I think I'm with Ben on this one," Kevin commented, climbing up to stand by me. _After_ he absorbed the tan stone. "It never hurts to check."

Zeke straightened out of her crouch and climbed up the small rest of the way. Looking at Gwen, she smiled slightly, "We were going to investigate anyways, weren't we?"

After a long moment of silence, Gwen sighed, extending her hand forward to build magic steps to the bottom of the ditch. "I'm still not okay with this," she reminded us as we traveled to the belly of the ditch. We remained on high-alert the entire time - just because there was nothing other than the ashen black earth and the bone-white structure didn't mean we could simply relax; we knew who was behind it after all.  
And even as we walked, my jaw dropped to the ground and my eyes widened to unholy proportions - I was going to get a crick in my neck from looking up and so far back as we approached the ship.

"It's _huge_..." Zeke breathed, eyes as wide as mine as we stared, drawing ever closer to the bone-white vessel.

Huge was an understatement; somehow our ability to gauge size from a distance was horrible, because it just seemed to keep growing with every foot we crossed. Was it a weapon? A base? It was the size of an overbearing fortress of white that towered over us, looming above with an eerie air to its dips and grooves.  
Why would Addex need something so massive floating around in space? Did he secretly run an entire empire and this was his home away from home?  
Oh god was he like Vilgax?  
They were drinking buddies weren't they?

Gwen gave a thoughtful hum from behind. I turned my head to look at her, watching her as she stared with a furrowed brow and an immersed expression. "Isn't this poor planning?" she asked of us, "I mean, either the ship flew through space in that position, or it was slick and fast, so the-"

"The nose would be forward," Kevin would finish, looking a bit amazed by it all, "Not a bad design, eh?"

"Not my point; if it was in this position the entire time, then that's how the interior would be set up. If not, then wouldn't we have a little bit of a problem?"

I lifted my arm with a triumphant grin. "Nothing Spider Monkey can't handle!"

"Unless your virus issue decides to come back," the blonde to my left decided to reminded me, "Cuz then you'd be screwed."

Grumbling a bit, I didn't respond, hesitating as we finally reached the slope into the vessel.  
 _Why_ was it so damn large?! Unless he was housing an entire planet inside, Addex had no reason for it. Then again, with "idiot's logic", he had claimed to be a King so maybe it was for the kingly-wealth aspect.  
But there was still no reason to linger on it - it had no effect on me.

I wasn't even the first person to move again; Zeke with her white shirt and singular black long sleeve walked in front of me, her steps long and quick, as if she couldn't wait to get inside. And yet, something about the way she was moving gave off the impression that she was someone going along to meet up with an inevitable encounter that had been planned for millennia.  
Kevin started after her, jolting me from my little dazed state. "Hey hey," the raven called to her, "Ze, wait for us."

"You're going in blindly," Gwen added, jogging a bit to reach them.

"There's only one entrance," was the girl's response, her tone a bit more serious than usual. "He knows we're coming, one way or another; we can either get caught sneaking around, or-" She lifted the scarf to her nose, the black becoming a flaring orange as it grew with the heat, becoming the new black cloak she had adapted, draping over her shoulders and covering her head in its darkness. "-or we could get found out on our own terms."

I frowned in mild concern, following a bit further behind.  
"Ze.."  
Everything felt weird about this, and something told me she knew it too; chances are this was a trap, seeing as how Addex wasn't as much of an idiot as I always claimed.

Kevin grinned at her statement, his hands forming into heavy, jaw-breaking mallets. "I like that!" he growled. "Let's go with that."

My cousin was a bit more hesitant; "Still..." Gwen protested lightly, "This isn't a good idea.." But did she put much of a fight in addition to that? No, of course not. We were all wary of what was ahead, and we all _knew_ that this was the best thing we could do in our situation.

The four of us reached the slick ring that encircled the vessel of bone, but we didn't stop there, continuing forward until we passed through a tall, arched entryway inside.  
It must've been in this current position from the start, pillars traveling upward and upholding many, _many_ other levels to the place; where we stood now was a long hallway, the walls and floor a white far purer than the exterior of the ship. The corridor, at the far end of it, opened up into a rounded space, arched and door-less entryways covering the walls. The walls were reaching up into what could easily be described as a cold oblivion, disappearing halfway through even though it was empty.


	3. Chapter 3

Our steps echoed in this main hall, filling the ominously empty silence with each one. It was quiet, sure, but we were **_not_** alone; the walls were alive, creaking and moaning as we passed. Entering the circular space, all four of us looked upward at the equally circular floors above.

Kevin was the first to speak, giving a loud huff of annoyance; "This was a waste of time, wasn't it?"

"Were you expecting a welcoming committee? Maybe some confetti?" I asked with a smirk, crossing my arms over my chest.

Zeke stepped forward, looking down some of the smaller, darker and identical archways that surrounded us. "It wasn't in the budget," she added to my joke, "Sorry, but it was in the newsletter."

I helped her with the quick sneak-peeks, but found that I couldn't see more than a few feet into the darkness they stored. Stepping away, I looked around the space we stood in, surveying the walls in search of a set of stairs or something; anything that could take us up to the next floor.

"Nothing..." I concluded aloud.

The redhead shivered, holding her arms with a scowl. "It feels..." Gwen paused. "It feels like there's something alive under the floor.."

"Eh? Really?" I stopped moving, trying to see what she was referring to; was the floor moving? Was she just dizzy or something?

It was neither, a horrible sickness clawing its way up into my throat as I just continued to simply stand there; I wasn't the one with kick-ass hearing. I wasn't the one with the hella good perception.  
But even I could feel the decay that seeped up from the floor, the sensation itself giving a very life-like sigh.

Kevin took one look at his hands, then had them turn from mallets to sharp blades. "Let's take a look-see then."

"Don't!" snapped Zeke, a hand raised in warning towards the older male. "Don't...touch anything.."

"Why not?" he demanded, scowling from her outburst. "We just gonna leave it?"

"Better than cutting up the floor and facing something we don't know about."

My eyes narrowed at her response, glancing over at her rather cautiously. "So..." I started with, "There is something down there then.."

Zeke lowered her hand and furrowed her brows. "I can't say for certain," she confessed, "but my main reason is that this entire thing feels alive; we shouldn't touch anything in general."

There came a sigh from Gwen who nodded her head, red locks bouncing with the action. "That's better than just charging our way through.."

She was uneasy, more so than the rest of us; probably because she had more brain cells than all of us combined and knew we shouldn't be so careless about our actions.

I turned towards Zeke completely, pointing to the floors above. "Think we can use Gwen's magic to take us up?" I asked her, "That should be fine, right?"

The blonde nodded, holding her chin. "It should be, but..." She lifted her head, hand dropping back to her side. "We still don't know what this thing actually is," Zeke went on to say, "nor do we know where to go; we should investigate it, even just a little bit."

Even I wanted to object, but she had a point.. Where were we going? What was our plan now that we were here? Why was this even here? And-

"Why hasn't anything happened?" I concluded aloud, turning my head to look at Kevin as he started forward.

"Why hasn't Bone Brain shown up yet?" he stressed, "Or sent his goo after us? This _is_ his ship, right?"

Zeke crossed the space, coming to a stop before one of the archways - why she chose one across from her and not the one she was already by, I had no idea, but this one seemed to peak her interest.

"No splitting up," Gwen ordered quickly, going to follow the soundless girl. "Got that, Ben? Kevin?"

The two of us nodded frantically, taking great notice of how she had slipped into the mood of "I'm not taking anyone's bull" before we would follow. Then, the four of us traveled down the new corridor and into its ghastly chill.

 **~#~**

I had no way to tell how long we walked, but it felt stupidly long; as if the silence of the fortress had slowed down every second to a minute, every minute to an hour. Along the way, to our jointed disappointment, we found nothing in any of the door-less, grandly sized rooms; in fact, they were almost all empty, save for some with black muck oozing slowly from ceilings and crevices, or the same goo in thick puddles on the floor - there were some collapsed piles of whoknowswhat, but we brushed them off as nothing for the time being.

After a while, I scratched the back of my head, clearing my throat to speak up; "Um.. So, I get we confirmed that this was Addex's "humble abode" and all-" Of course I used the sarcastic air quotations. Who do you think I am? "-but there's nothing here."

"Except this entire ship," Gwen corrected, "with that gross, living goo everywhere; we only saw a little bit here and there, but it's enough to take over a city once it's actually animated."

"...Touché."

We walked through another small corridor and found ourselves on one of the floors.

Startled, I rushed forward - just to make sure I wasn't imaging the hole in the floor and all that - and almost dropped five god damn levels; only reason I didn't die was because literally everyone behind me grabbed onto whatever they could (my jacket, my arm, all that fun stuff). A surprised squeak left my mouth but soon I was pulled back with the power of friendship, Kevin calling me an idiot, Gwen telling me to be more careful, and Zeke just asking if I was actually a hamster because of my squeaking prowess.

Stepping forward - more carefully this time - I peered over the edge, amazed by how far we made it before I came to a sudden and rather disturbing realization; spinning on my heels, I faced the others, noticing how they were all observed the same thing. "Did we find any stairs?" I demanded frantically, "Or a ladder? Or a rope? Or even an elevator? You know, one that travels straight to HELL!?"

Each of them shook their head, expressions contorting into minor distress. "Nothing," Kevin responded, fists clenching at his sides, "We didn't come across anything that was capable of taking us anywhere."

"Even the hallways were perfectly flat," my cousin would add, scowling a bit as she tried to think of something that would make sense in this scenario, "We didn't cross any floors, there was no indication that anything had changed.."

"I had a feeling we were going in circles; everything looked the same to me."

This was absurd.. With an annoyed huff I lowered my head into my hands, fists curling into my brown locks. "This is like a stupid labyrinth.." I commented, "But there aren't any walls we can follow; where do we go from here!?"

Yes, I was frustrated.

We came in here to investigate and it was sort of starting to seem pointless. So far, there had been nothing to see, nothing to inspect, no reason to suspect anything; it was all a bust.

Just when I was about to suggest leaving, Zeke spoke up, wandering away from us to head towards another arched hallway. I lifted my head, every part of my face contorted in confusion. "Um... Where ya going?"

"Let's try this way," she suggested, gesturing with her thumb, "There's something about this one."

Kevin was the first to follow, scowling heavily as he did. "Oh yeah?" he demanded, not bothering to look back and see if either Gwen or I had followed, "And how do you know this? Hell, how do you randomly know things anyhow?"

Gwen and I did end up following anyways, sharing a glance of 'what is even happening anymore'. Granted, Kevin did have a point; ever since meeting Zeke, she had always responded to situations and suggested things that would make us question how she came up with them, and she had always responded with one thing or another about a "feeling" or just not knowing, and how somethings "feels right".

Still, it had yet to fail.

And, still, we didn't understand it.

Zeke looked back with raised eyebrows, tilting her head a bit curiously. "How?" she repeated before looking forward again, "Well, I don't know how to explain it-"

Were we about to get an actual answer? CALL THE NEWSPAPER. OH GOD.

"-but I think it's the scarf."

The raven haired male's scowl deepened, yet his entire expression seemed confused. "The scarf.." he muttered to himself, "An inanimate piece of clothing.. What?"

"Well," Ze started to explain, "I don't know for sure, but I'm almost positive that it's sentient; it's own being or mind or conscience or something like that."

Farfetched? Perhaps. Even so. . .

Gwen seemed to perk up beside me, green eyes widening as she stared at the two in front of her. "That... That makes sense," she claimed, hands soon raising for emphasis as she went on. "The power I've detected with you never really felt like yours," my cousin rambled, appearing far more amazed by her observation than any of us could ever be, "Like it was someone else.. Someone older, wiser, and stronger-"

"Wow.." complained the blonde, shrugging her shoulders dramatically, "Thanks for the compliment, Gwen; I'll just go back to the trash can and exist."

"I didn't mean it like that!" huffed Gwen, "I just meant that-"

"Uh, Gwen?" I interrupted with a hand on her shoulder and a smirk on my face, "I'm almost 300% sure that she was being sarcastic."

"Oh.."

Kevin waved his hand back at us, his face directed upward at the suddenly towering ceiling. "Could you stop for a second?" he asked, his steps now cautious, "I think we are in some other world."

Sure enough, we were walking through a corridor much like the very first one; only difference was that it was more sculpted and polished, sort of like a royal hall or something. It was long and tall, and I couldn't see the original hall behind us. Frowning, I held the Omnitrix on my wrist with my opposite hand, glancing around on high-alert.

We weren't alone, the presence of others making itself blatantly known.

Up in front, Zeke had pulled her sword from the depths of her scarf-cloak. Behind her, Kevin's hands took on a more menacing shape. Behind him, Gwen's hands had encased with mana, giving the eerie walls a new glow. And I popped up the dial, a holographic model shining past my fingers and ready palm.

Clapping his tools together, Kevin gave a gruff shout. "About damn time something happened!" he growled, whirling to face one of the curved walls, "Come on out!" While the shouting was a little excessive, I couldn't have agreed more with his first statement, switching through aliens as the others readied up.  
Wait...

We had to wait. . .

"Up above!" Zeke shouted, swinging the suddenly flaming sword in an arch over her head.

Like cold rain hitting scorching hot lava, the black goo that oozed and dripped from the high ceiling above sizzled when it came into contact with the flames; in addition to that, it _screeched_. If I was already uneasy and sick to my stomach, that settled it for me, a wave of fear-induced nausea smacking me in the face with a frying pan.


	4. Chapter 4

Gwen let out a cry of surprise, a black goopy form emerging from the base of the walls. It crashed down like a wave and would've swallowed us all had Gwen not thrown up a dome of energy. But the goo bounced off of it, shooting upward to collect its smoking comrades before slamming back down on the floor. "Fire hurts it!" the redhead reminded, letting the defense fall around us.

Naturally, Zeke was the first to shoot forward as she had the most literal firepower, swinging the sword downward at the blob.  
It separated before the blade and flames came into contact, becoming two halves of a whole, then _further splitting apart_ , forming an army that surrounded us; some were airborne, demonic wings sprouting from the back of their humanoid shapes. Others were grounded with black blades protruding from their limbs and bodies. Their voices were gurgles, their words only growls - all reminding me of some creepy children's show I used to watch. Or something like that.

Kevin slammed his now-mallet hands together, having decided this original shape to be necessary. "I can get the ones on the ground," he announced, a fiery smirk on his face.

"I can get the ones above," commented Gwen, lifting her gaze to the ones hovering in the air.

"Ben?" called the Ninja, looking over at me from her spot a bit further away.

I knew her reason and simply nodded, slamming down on the dial of the Omnitrix. My body and DNA bent and twisted, taking on a larger, more alien shape. "Swampfire!" I roared, fists clenched and raised over my head. When they lowered, I again restored eye contact with Zeke; green locked on green. She could cover either the air or the ground, it didn't matter to her - she had enough stamina to cover the sky with her leaps and bounds, with her bullet of fire, but swords were better for the bottom level.  
I could do either as well, but decided to go to town on the batty-freaks with my cousin.  
With a nod, I directed my palms above. "I go high, you go low!" I barked, earning a quick nod from the blonde.

Then the four of us unleashed individual hells.

Luckily enough, physical attacks - aka everything Kevin - worked against these humanoid shapes, smashing them into sticky, gooey puddles that oozed on the floor. They were also susceptible to mana, screeching in pain as every one of Gwen's attacks made them explode into muck. Naturally, fire from both Zeke and Swampfire absolutely kicked ass, but even plant-based attacks worked.  
Either these were a new model, old model that we've never seen, or just what happens when the goo is in numbers instead of one formation.  
Or we were just getting lucky for once.

Their numbers dropped, but it wasn't nearly enough; there were just too many, and some of the puddles had begun to take form again, slowly rising and making a new body with which to attack.  
"Hey!" Kevin exclaimed with a cheerful and amused tone, smashing through wave upon wave, "This is fun!"

"Kevin, take this seriously!" my cousin scolded, running up pink steps to get a better angle at the aerial battle, "Focus!"

"Oh, because I wasn't doing that before-"

A wave of fire shot past, centimeters from nailing his shoulder. It burned up a horde of goo that had yet to take form, turning it solid and ashen on the floor. Zeke laughed, her sword pointed at the raven. "You should probably focus," she said.

"I agree entirely."

I couldn't resist the urge to laugh, forcing it down to at least a chuckle and a snort before sending up a storm of vines to whack down the winged goo, crushing them with my rooty might. Part of me wanted to say that this was pretty easy, but the other part sort of hit the first part with a golf club, saying that _every time I freaking said that_ , everything would go wrong.

Apparently even thinking was a crime.

While the four of us had all been distracted with the endless fight, no one noticed how the "defeated" goop seeped together until it was nothing but a black pond, bubbling at the center. Turning my head to get a better look at how the battle was going, I was late to notice the tentacle-like shapes that rose from this pool, shooting towards the cloaked blonde.

"Zeke!-"  
My call was too late, the gooey tails wrapping around every individual limb and part of her body. She struggled, the fire on her sword pulsing like a heart as it grew in intensity.  
But even that was useless, the weapon flung from her grasp and lodging itself into the bone floor.  
The others were suddenly distracted with the commotion, becoming vulnerable to the rest of the animated goop; but it didn't attack, watching with empty, ripped smiles in their forms.

I gritted my teeth, lifting my hands and blasting a fire towards the pond and Zeke, trying to get her free (she was fireproof, trust me).  
And even though it shrieked in pain and stiffened, the goo broke off the hardened out layer and continued constricting the blonde. Just by looking at her, I could tell that she was seconds from snapping, green eyes _flaring_ with rage.

With another lurch, she pulled her head free of its hold. "Let GO!" she roared, her cloak - and the rest of her - igniting like a phoenix in its wriggling grasp.

That should've done it.  
God dammit, _that should've done it_.

Half of it solidified like stone, but the rest of it acted unfazed, restricting every part of her that could move and covering her mouth. Then, it made its getaway, blazing down the hall in the direction we had been trying to go in.

"Ze!" I shouted again, starting to charge after her when the other creatures responded, tackling the rest of us to the ground.

Kevin was pinned by almost everything on the ground, every squirm he tried only draining him of his strength until his armor melted away and he was the fleshy squishy Kevin everyone loves. Gwen was knocked from the sky without any warning, her head slamming against the floor and rendering her unconscious. Yes, I worried, but I tried to keep going.  
Up until a starfish of black suctioned itself to my chest, lying over the Omnitrix.

"System shut down," the watch announced.

With a flash, I was again human, stumbling forward and falling onto my chest. Goo had covered my feet, rooting me to the spot. And, of course, I continued to thrash.  
' _Ze will be okay_ ,' I told myself, my chase-aimed movements becoming more concrete, ' _She can handle herself. I gotta help everyone else first.'  
_ But I couldn't break away before more blobs immobilized me, much less help Gwen or Kevin.

Before I knew it, the three of us were dragged into the nearest wall, down a sickly blue-tinted hall with holes in the bone, and further away from our friend. I continued to struggle, hoping to reach the Omnitrix on my wrist or at least loosen the sticky bonds.  
So heavily occupied with this simple task, I didn't notice the humanoid shape leaning over me, raising its mace-shaped and spiked hand over its head.

 _THWACK._

 **(Switched P.O.V)**

When Zeke came to, her wrists, ankles, and torso were all bound to a table by bone clasps. No matter how much she struggled, no matter how much strength she used, there was no breaking them.

No escape.

With a huff of defeat, she relaxed her muscles and looked around at the room. The very dark room.. With only one light - and it was over her. The surface she was on greatly reminded her of a metal operating table from the movies, only difference being that it was made of bone. And that none of this was a movie. Unfortunately.

Scowling, she tried to think of a way to escape, of any way to break free; instinct told her that no matter how much she got her "flame on", the clasps would not melt. Her sword was gone and all of her other tools were out of her grasp.  
"Some ninja I am..." Zeke complained aloud, an annoyed tone in her voice. A ninja wouldn't have gotten captured. A ninja wouldn't forget to keep tools in their gloves. Crap.

"Yes," cooed a spine chilling voice, resonating from the depths of the darkness and bouncing off of the unseen walls, "Some ninja indeed." Addex, cloak and all with red eyes a-glowing, emerged beside her, looming over her paled form with a cold laugh. "After 80 years, I finally have you."

She frowned, brows furrowing heavily. "I'm not even 80," the blonde argued, unable to disguise her sarcasm, "Like, I turned fifteen-"  
Zeke fell silent, all tension disappearing from her face out of shock.

When did she turn fifteen? Last time she was asked about her age was by Ben's mother, after a soccer game and her first encounter with DNAliens... Zeke had been fourteen at the time, and responded by saying she would turn fifteen soon.  
Her birthday was-

"Today.." Zeke finished aloud, a bit amazed that she had forgotten her own birthday. Though it wasn't that hard; fighting aliens and bad guys, hanging out with friends, and just ninja-ing around was a big distraction. Plus grades and stuff, but that wasn't as significant.

The girl took a breath, closing her eyes as she reverted back to her original mindset. "I haven't even seen you before that one time at the warehouse," she went on to say, "I'm fifteen - get it? Fifteen. A bit far from 80."

But Addex only laughed, a sound greatly different from the other madness induced ones from the past; it made her want to run away or cower in a wardrobe. "I understand that," he stated, "In fact, I know it well now. And I know who _you_ are."

Her blood ran cold, but she wasn't allowed a moment to interject or stop him;

"Melody Rose Dawson," spoke the shadow dressed being, "Such a lovely name.." The lights under his hood vanished for a moment, as if he was closing his eyes thoughtfully. "You ran away not even a year ago, and when your mother searched for you, you ran."

"I didn't run," Zeke argued, trying to keep her voice from cracking, "I faced her."

"Faced her?" Addex laughed, his voice making the room quake. "What a riot. Your ninja self did, not you. Don't confuse the two." He raised a hand, his sleeve slipping to reveal black bone fingers, an amused tone to his words as he said; "Shall I continue?"

In response, the blonde frowned. "I rather you not. I already know who I am, thank you very much."

He edged closer to the table, placing his hands on the edge so that he could lean closer. "Your great grandmother gave you the scarf," the being spoke, "but, what a shame, she had to go and die. How unfortunate. Indeed." Up his hand lifted, waving his fingers over her head as if mixing a magic pot. "And now, as time would have it, you met a band of... _heroes_ and spend your time helping people." Addex chuckled darkly, the glow returning in full force as he said; "Though, I'm impressed; you managed to change the Ninja's form yourself. He must be proud of you."

At the mention of yet another player to the board, confusion was making Zeke's head spin. "He?" she repeated, brows furrowing, "Who's _he_?"  
But she would go unanswered as the living skeleton put his hand upon her head, the sharp points of his fingers just barely avoiding her green eyes. "Blame him," Addex said as her eyes widened with new fear, "for your fate, Melody."

Her mind was then invaded, and she wasn't given much of a fighting chance. She opened her mouth and-


	5. Chapter 5

**(Normal P.O.V)**

I came to and was greeted by mumbled bickering. My fuzzy vision was focused on the dark, nightmarish floor, taking a moment longer to clarify than I would've preferred. The ground was far away, and judging by how my ankles and wrists were bound, pulling my arms and legs apart from each other, I figured I was hanging.  
Splendid.  
Groaning, I lifted my head and looked around, finding that Gwen on my left and Kevin on my right were both suspended in the same way, held still by sticky thick webbing tightly encasing their hands and feet.

Gwen was the first to notice I was awake, eyes widening as she looked at me. "Oh, Ben, how's your head?" she asked with a concerned voice.

"Dandy," I responded with a small grunt, "Just peachy. What about you? That was a pretty bad fall."

"I'm fine, I'm fine."

Kevin sighed loudly, forcing us to look in his direction. "Sorry to interrupt this _touching_ reunion," he said, words dripping with pure sarcasm, "but we need to find a way out."

"And to Ze," I added with a nod, beginning the struggle against my webby, annoying prison.  
Okay, to be completely honest I had _noooooooooooo_ idea what the hell the web actually was, and you can bet your sweet arse that I didn't want it to be an oversized spider. The sooner we got out, the better.  
I had no way of reaching my Omnitrix, so I couldn't cut my way out. Or burn my way out. Or shatter my way out.  
You get the picture.

A few grunts from Gwen had me looking her way, finding that she was struggling in her own special way; a look of pure concentration, brow furrowing included. Her scowl deepened with very passing moment, and both Kevin and myself were mildly amazed to see her struggling so hard. With, you know, whatever it was that she was trying to do.

My pondering was cut short by her eyes glowing full on pink, a sort of mana laser blasting out and up. It seared off the webbing encasing her right hand. And that was enough - one hand was all she needed. Green eyes returning, the hand was enveloped in pure magic energy. With one fell swoop, starting from the right she broke every bound around her, dropping to the floor with kick-ass grace.

Gwen looked back at our bewilderment, a smirk on her face. "You guys coming?" she asked teasingly.

"Oh yeah," was Kevin's response, "Lemme just grab my god damn purse- Gwen let us out."

" _Please_ ," I added for the idiot's sake.

In minutes, all three of us were free. Kevin rubbed his wrists, raising an eyebrow as he looked at me. "Who will it be?" he asked, "Humungousaur? Big Chill? Goop?"  
To which I responded with the shake of my head, popping up the Omnitrix's dial and just as quickly slamming it down.

"Brainstorm!" I declared, pincers raised triumphantly.

And Kevin looked disappointed. "Why a crab?" he asked with a defeated tone, "Why a frickin' crab, Tennyson? Why not the muscles?"

"I'll have you know, _sir_ , that the brain is a grand muscle!" For good measure, I bonked him on the head, earning an "ow" and a swear far too vulgar for children. "And with my amazing brain functions and memory, I will be able to map out the structure of this cursed _citadel_ of organic material. No longer shall we get lost, and we will have higher chances of reaching our companion."

"What about the goo?" Gwen asked, tilting her head. "I don't think having a bunch of gross black muck in your brain will do any good."

I puffed out my chest, pincers at my side as I scurried towards the exit. "Why, the power of my brain alone will fry those formless creatures right out of existence, see that it won't!" The shell over my marvelous cranium opened up, a bolt of electricity crashing through the thin wall of our exit. Keeping Kevin and Gwen in tow, I hurried away, quickly analyzing and mapping out every little detail I took notice of.

 **~#~**

At one point, a good fifteen minutes or so after our escape, I stopped them, gesturing to a nearby pillar. "This ship," I told them, "was actually horizontal before landing like this."

This seemed to surprise Kevin, who approached the pillar with a questioning expression. "What makes you say that, Brainiac?" he asked, "Look at it, it's situated for vertical travel."

"Incorrect; look at the strain of the base-"

He did.

"-and now do you understand? This vessel is alive and altered its interior to match its positioning."

The scowl on his face said that he wasn't thrilled to have heard this information. "So?" the raven demanded, "What does that mean for us?"

"Ben, we can't waste time over stuff like this," Gwen commented lightly. Even my cousin didn't see the significance.

I cleared my throat, closing my eyes with my pincers again at my hips. "It is alive," I stated again, "meaning that it can change whenever and however it wants. Kevin my friend, you can't absorb it. And it can attack on its own, without external command."

 _Finally_ it was sinking in.

Gwen stared at me with wide eyes, almost as if she was unable to believe what I said. Even though I was by far the smartest among us. "Then... There's a brain.." she breathed in shock, "Even if we find Ze, we can't get out."

"If Addex doesn't get to us first," Kevin made sure to add with a frown, "then his damn ship will."

I nodded, opening my eyes and lowering my arms. "We must locate Zeke first," I said as I started scurrying again, my pace fast enough to force both Kevin and Gwen to start running, "From there, you two need to find the brain of this ship."

"And you?" my cousin asked, looking up at me as she rather easily matched my pace.

"I will hold off Addex."

Kevin scoffed, throwing his head back. "Surely not as a talking crab," he hoped aloud, "I mean, stupid Bone Brain will eat you for lunch."

I nodded in agreement but said nothing more as we continued on. After all, we still didn't know where Zeke was, and had no clues as to where to find her; Gwen's magic wouldn't work since the scarf counters her powers.

Well, we _had_ no clues.

Up until we heard a girl screaming.

The Omnitrix reverted me back to normal in time to send Gwen and Kevin off to the command center of the ship. It turned me back in time to run through a small door. I was human in time to see Addex with his hands on the head of a thrashing, close-eyed Zeke. Lurching forward, I grabbed onto the rail in front of me so tightly that my knuckles turned white.  
She was in so much pain - I could see it on her face, the way it was twisted in agony.

For a moment, she went completely still, everything about her going limp and I feared the worst.  
But that _wasn't_ the worst.

Zeke opened her mouth, and screamed; it wasn't completely filled with pain, but it was there, mingling with the power and rage in her voice. Lying there on a tilted table of bone, she ignited with the intensity of Heat Blast, filling the dark room with a wild fire's glow. The flames and the fire didn't stop there, the blonde becoming enveloped in a pillar of fire. It engulfed the room, it engulfed _Addex_ , the shadow screaming in surprise.

I couldn't look away, horrified as Zeke started disappearing from view. But I saw her eyes open, I swear I did.  
And that might've been the worst part.

Taking as big of a breath as I could, I leaned over the railing and shouted to her; "ZEKE!" That was all I managed to say, and it was still after the fire swallowed her.

It was a horrible feeling, really... It wouldn't have been different had it been Kevin or Gwen, and it was the most devastating thing I had to experience. Every part of me deemed it as only a passing moment, that once this fire died away everything was going to be fine. It was easy to believe so that's exactly what I chose to accept.

The bone craft trembled like an earthquake- Or perhaps it was an actual earthquake. Either way, something was horribly wrong. And it may not have been just the fire. It wasn't even natural fire, I could tell that much.  
Hell, it was almost far from being alien. Almost.

"Damn you!" Addex shrieked, becoming more enraged by the second, "Melody, you've doomed not only yourself but your friends, your _planet_! You human fool!"

The fire only roared in response, swallowing the room whole.

I was lucky for now; it had yet to reach me.  
Addex claimed that this fire had doomed the planet, but I could tell that he was so far from wrong. The bone popped, it cracked, splintering away like wood in a campfire. Fire swirled with fluidity around the confines of the room, taking on a more stream-like shape instead of just filling empty space, bending and winding its way around as the heat started to distort my sight. My hand drifted to the Omnitrix, popping up the dial. I knew that no alien would be able to truly fight off this firepower but allowed the dial to sit idle anyways, watching the flames rise higher and higher, lapping at the railing and my feet in its attempts to devour all that it could; I couldn't even hear Addex anymore. As the stream arched up to the main rail, to burst out and burn through the rest of the ship, I watched it hesitate before me, a form taking shape in the head of the trail.

It was watching me, its closeness making heavy beads of sweat form and streak down my covered arms.

Then it lurched forward, enveloping me in a surprisingly timid warmth and lifting me off of my feet. All I could see was orange, all I could feel were the warm tongues of flames dancing against my face, neck and hands, and all I heard was the scream of bone. I didn't hurt, didn't burn, didn't feel any pain at all. In fact, I decided to occupy myself with the idea of, if the fire wasn't killing me, and was instead carrying me with it as it blazed a path of its own, then Zeke was in the same situation. Obviously.

Time seemed to stall for a bit, before I heard a few new voices crying out. Something slammed into me and knocked a bit further back in the trail of fire before I could even figure out what it had been. Trying to make out the new form, my eyes widened when I saw it. Or them. "Gwen!" I exclaimed, "Kevin!" Their heads snapped to attention, looking towards me with equally wide eyes. Moving as if through water, they "swam" their way over to me, Gwen grabbing onto my arm as if fearing one of us would float away. "What's going on?!" she questioned, "What happened?!"

"Is it Swampfire?" Kevin asked, turning his head to look at the fire around him (though it was exactly the same as the fire in front of him, let's just give him the benefit of the doubt, yeah?), "Though, wouldn't we be completely roasted by now?"

I smiled at both of them, grabbing their arms as well as I felt the fire move faster. "Zeke," I responded, "I think it's Zeke - it probably is."

"Was she okay?" my cousin asked, however I decided to pretend that I didn't hear her. Because the answer I would've been able to give her wasn't a good one. I could always lie, but right now that didn't seem like the best idea.

It was then that something changed, streams of darker flames lacing in between all of us with enough force to separate each of our holds. I panicked a bit, flailing to reach for whoever was closest - which happened to be Kevin - before it didn't even matter, solid ground slamming into the bottom of my feet. The sudden appearance of something I could actually touch made my knees buckle out of force and swelling surprise, dropping to a kneeling position. Gwen and Kevin were out of sight, but through the roar of flames I could hear them hitting ground as well; the scuffing of feet and shoes against dirt. We were outside it seemed..

Wind ripped through my clothing, threatening to pull me off of my feet and launching me skyward. The fire tugged away and soon cool air hit my back, the flames flowing away and into one point. Soon I could see more than just orange, the landscape I remembered to make up the ditch Addex had landed his ship in surrounding me - _us_ \- at long last. There was blue sky and white clouds, the earth charred and black. Gwen was standing maybe two yards away and Kevin had fallen on his rear four feet back. I was incredibly startled to see that, after I came over my initial surprise of being in a familiar place, the fire was right in front of me, swirling and bending over itself. The bone craft was no more, nothing left behind but thin, powdery ash.

For a second I thought that the fire was going to bury itself in the earth, however I was proven wrong when it suddenly shot upward with a shriek. It took the form of a massive firebird, wings outstretched as it welcomed the sky. It zig zagged upward and got so far away that I couldn't see it anymore. While I suspected that it exited the atmosphere, without oxygen it would die out. Had it been normal, which it clearly wasn't.  
Heat faded away and silence fell over the ditch.

I looked at Gwen, she looked at me. I looked back at Kevin, and he seemed just as confused as me. "Did we...win?" he asked after a while.

"I think so," Gwen responded, straightening a bit before rubbing her arm, "I mean, the ship is gone, and Addex isn't here anymore. I don't think... I can't sense him or anything like that."

Eventually I had to stand up, so after a bit of mental preparation - my legs felt heavy like anchors, so I wasn't even sure they _would_ move - I finally succeeded in rising up, fighting to tug my gaze away from the sky. The bird was gone, the fire was gone, and I wondered what there was left to do. We more or less accomplished a goal we had no intention of going through with; we were just going to check it out, find out what he was doing, but managed to thwart whatever plan he had. Maybe. I think. You think I pay attention-

Wait.

My nerves went on edge, tingling with newfound anxiety. I turned in place, looking around with frantic, wide eyes. Kevin looked up at me like I was crazy, and Gwen seemed to be concerned. "Ben..?" she called, slowly approaching me, "What's wrong?"

I quickly turned to look at her, panic making its home in my chest. "Where's Zeke?" I asked her. It was then that her attention shifted to one of sudden realization and concern. Looking over at Kevin, I saw that he was also realizing the absence of our youngest companion. Instantly, we were branching out, searching the great piles of ash in search of some kind of fleshy lump that would be lying unconscious within it. The others questioned me for information, if it was likely that she actually was one of the piles of ash (morbid, I know). If memory persisted in that draining moment that I saw Zeke in, when the fire was starting and proceeding to take over, she wasn't on the table. So-

"Maybe she-" I frowned, looking back towards the sky, raising my arm to shield my eyes from the sun, "Maybe she left... Maybe that was her..?"

I didn't want to believe the possibilities my brain was coming up with, but gut feelings decided otherwise. If our entire life was like some kind of sci-fi fantasy book, then if genre held true, she just turned into fire and- Well, I didn't want to think about that. Defeat weighed me down, causing me to stagger and fall to a kneeling position.

Shoes scraped against charred earth.. "Ben..?" Gwen called to me, frowning a bit as she rested a hand on my shoulder, "What's wrong..?"

In our world, it _wasn't_ unlikely that Zeke really was gone. I looked up at the redhead, then over to the raven that was soon standing over me as well. They all seemed to have come to the same conclusion as I, but were holding it together much better than I was. So, I forced a smile and tried to keep the strain that was rising in my chest from bursting out. "S-sucks," I choked out, closing my eyes, "Who... Who am I gonna race now..? Who's gonna buy me smoothies when they lose?"

At least, you know, the whole firebird thing was cool.  
Right?

* * *

 **So I know it sucks, but whatever. Thanks for sticking with me, and hopefully you'll stick around for the second part. Forgive the absence, but it might not get any better. Chances are I might rewrite the ending because it doesn't fit the idea I had when I initially started this.  
** **See you later, Zeke, it was nice knowing you.**

 **Until next time!** _ **-ShockScythe**_


End file.
